PACEY, William Leonard
| Service Number: | 1618 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 18 August 1914, 2 years 1st Battery AFA 1 year Cadets |
| Last Rank: | Bombardier |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Field Artillery Brigade |
| Born: | Kenmore, Queensland, Australia, 4 August 1894 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Wounds from Gallipoli, At sea aboard HMS Arcadian , 25 August 1915, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Buried at sea. Lone Pine Memorial Panel 11 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Marburg Church Altar Plaque, Shire of Moggill War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 18 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Bombardier, 1618, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , 2 years 1st Battery AFA 1 year Cadets | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Sep 1914: | Involvement Bombardier, 1618, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Rangatira embarkation_ship_number: A22 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Sep 1914: | Embarked Bombardier, 1618, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade , HMAT Rangatira, Brisbane |
Help us honour William Leonard Pacey's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gallipoli, 1915
Gnr. William Leonard Pacey, 7th Battery, 3rd Brigade Australian Field Artillery, was severely wounded on 21st August 1915. He died aboard the hospital ship 'Arcadian' on 25th August 1915.
Nurse Ida L. Burkett wrote to his father:
“The night before your son passed away he asked me to write to you. I should have done so earlier, but contracted enteric fever myself, so was unable to. He was very badly wounded, being hit in the shoulder and abdomen. His case was quite hopeless from the time we took him on board the hospital ship at Suvla Bay, off the Gallipoli Peninsula. I know you will be glad to hear he bore his sufferings with the greatest courage possible, and through it all showed wonderful unselfishness and gentleness to those around him. I never heard him complain once, and we did all we could to ease his pain by continual injections of morphine. Poor boy, that was the only thing he did not seem to like; he used to smile, and say he was afraid he was getting to like it. I do not think he realised how near the end was, and during his last few hours of consciousness he told me how beautiful Australia was, and was making plans for the future. He was looking forward to his 21st birthday cake you were sending him, and very much to seeing England — we were on our way there. Then he asked me to write you, giving your address, and tell you how much more comfortable he was than when he was first wounded, early in the morning. He was buried. A few minutes later he became unconscious, and never spoke again, dying in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and Malta. Words of sympathy would be superfluous on my part. I may say he was the bravest and kindest man I have ever met, even amongst our many very brave — and his mother must be proud of him to the end of her days, for she was the last one his thoughts turned to at the close of his all too short life. I should like to know if you receive this letter, then I shall know his last message has been received.” [1]
Buried at sea, the former farmer is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial. He was the son of James Pacey, of Kenmore, via Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Queensland.
[1] 'Queensland Times' (Ipswich, Queensland), 20th January 1916.
Biography
William Leonard Pacey died at sea on the hospital ship Arcadia after being severely wounded at Gallipoli.
His nurse, Ida Burkett, wrote to his family " he was the kindest and bravest man I had ever met, even among our very brave"
He wrote a long letter home to his mother in July 1915 which was published in The Brisbane Courier on 30 July 1915. It is very descriptive of conditions at Gallipoli.
He was an expert horseman and a crack shot.
His brother, Jim, also served with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment and served in the Middle East.
William and Jim were grandsons of one of Brisbane's earliest settlers, Patrick Pacey who arrived in Australia in the 1830s from Carlow, Ireland.
William is commemorated at the Lone pine Memorial, Panel 11 and at the Kenmore War memorial, Brisbane
Service Medals: 1914-1915 Star,British War Medal, Victory medal
Click images to start slideshow.